Night in not so shining armour
by EmilyScribbles
Summary: Lily never thought James would care for her or stand up for her and yet here he was, in the middle of the transfiguration corridor, wand out, ready to risk his place at Hogwarts for her. One shot.


The piercing cold of the February air bit at Lily's cheeks as she pushed past the snogging Hufflepuffs. She pulled her Jacket tighter around her body and regretted not bringing her beloved Gryffindor scarf; she glanced back at the dorms, no. She was already late.

"Evans" Lily stopped in her tracks and scanned the crows for any sign of the person who called her name "Lily!" She heard the same voice call as a mucky James Potter blocked her way, she guessed he had come straight from Quiditch practice as his hair was messier than usual and there was a streak of mud on his cheekbone.

"What James?" She said. If it wasn't obvious by the way she was darting around like a lunatic constantly apologising to people for pushing them out of the way the annoyed/rushed tone in her voice clearly stated that she was late and in no mood to talk.

"That's not a very nice way to treat your fellow head is it?" James mocked a half smile creeping up on his pale pink lips. Like she needed reminding, James wasn't exactly and exemplary student. He liked to spend a great deal of time causing trouble. So Merlin knows why he was appointed head boy.

Lily on the other hand was practically the perfect student. If it wasn't for James constantly provoking her she would never be in trouble. It wasn't like she was a stick in the mud or anything, in fact many students aspired to be like her, she was without a doubt one of the prettiest girls at Hogwarts, she had dark ginger hair that fell far below her shoulders and bright green eyes that glistened when she spoke.

It was no surprise that James had fallen for her like many of the other boys, but unlike the other boys James was unable to admit he liked Lily. The matter was clear to the whole school -even a few of the teachers that James Potter was madly in love with none other than Lily Evans. This however did not stop girls from throwing themselves at James at every chance they got (not that James minded of course. He was perfectly happy being snog-attacked in the middle of the charms corridor.)

"What do you want James because I'm already late-" She stopped mid-sentence and took a glance down at her watch. What was she 10, 15 minutes late? She was always late to Ingrid and hers' study sessions.

"Why are you in such a hurry? Got a hot date?" James scoffed but secretly dreaded Lily ever going on a date with anyone but him. Him and Sirius had once walked in on Lily and snooty Hufflepuff called Amos Diggory doing things he'd really wished he hadn't seen. It took him at least a week before he could look at Lily the same again, although it only made him want to be with her more.

"Something like that" muttered Lily, she smiled at the thought of her and Ingrid dining over garlic bread in the three broomsicks.

"What!" James demanded

"Relax will you, I have to go and study for the transfiguration test with Ingrid and if my eyes haven't been deceiving me for 2 years then you are in that class as well and probably should be studying, Mcgonagall said the test in hard and if you don't want to fail…" Lily trailed off. James Potter never failed. Even if he didn't study.

With the information Lily didn't have to do a mad date dash James's confidence bounced back instantly "Aaaaahhh well don't let me stand in the way of true love" James said. Lily was in too much of a hurry to notice the half smirk James was now wearing. The smirk indicated he had a plan, a scheme rather and Lily probably wouldn't like it. She stepped past him now a lot late than she was before and gave a short huff to show she was irritated by the delay.

"Have fun snogging Filtwick" Professor Filtwick was one of the many teachers who favoured Lily, however Filtwick had taken a rather big shine to Lily and it was known by many students.

Lily spun on her heels and blushed an entirely new shade of red. Whether it was out of anger or embarrassment no one could tell.

"Potter I swear to Merlin-" she stormed towards him pulling her was out of her pocket

"Oh now I'm scared" he cocked his head up showing no sign of removing his wand as she stood firm pointing hers at him. She was confused as to why he hadn't drawn his wand and had a duel with her right there, he certainly enjoyed fighting with her -even if they were just harmless things like making her hair change colour. Then it stuck her, if any of the teachers walked by it would look as if Lily had whipped out her wand and pointed it at poor defences James Potter. With this is mind she quickly put it away, however her rage had somehow transmitted to the other students and quite a crowd was now gathered.

She scowled at James who was rocking on his heels looking very satisfied to have gotten a rise out of her then pushed through the wall of surrounding students.

She had made it quite a way down the transfiguration corridor before James caught up with her panting from running

"James I'm really not in the mood for your childish games so could you please _fuck off_" Lily bellowed but then regretted it as some 3rd years whose mouths were now agape trotted past them

"Language Evans" James scolded "actually I didn't come to annoy you, I came to give you a message and if you hadn't so rudely stormed off then maybe I would have been able to-"

"What's the massage" Lily requested now far past annoyed with James's stalling

"I was supposed to tell you that Ingrid needs to delay your study date-"

"It's not a date" Lily interrupted although not unkindly

"Right, well study session needs to be postponed due to the fact I kept the team late for extra practice and Ingrid needs time to shower and fix her hair blah blah blah-" he explained

"So you're telling me that I've been running around like an idiot to get to the study session which isn't taking place for Merlin knows how long" She waved her arms frantically around her head and James had to take a step back to avoid being hit by her flailing arms

"Yes" James said innocently shrugging

"Well it might have been abides to tell me sooner" She hit him hard on the arm with the transfiguration textbook that was no longer needed

"At least I told you" snapped James exaggerating the amount of rubbing needed to heal his arm

"That's not the point-" Lily retaliated

"So what's the point?" James asked knowing she had no valid point other than the fact she was looking for someone to blame and James was closest to her

"The point is..." She hesitated for a moment before answering "Is that that is useful information and I wouldn't have had to practically sprint over here to make it in time" the corners of Lily's mouth twitched upwards "besides, if I hadn't been in such a hurry I would have had time to whip your sorry ass into shape" she said then blushed, she knew what James would pick out from that.

"You were looking at my ass?" He asked her glancing towards his bum, yep she was right.

If it was possible she had gone redder than before and the colour of her cheeks was beginning to make her hair look dull "No!" She said to quickly which only made James's grin widen

"But you said that-"

"No I didn't." Lily interrupted not wanting to hear the phrase again.

"Flirting again Potter" Lucius Malfoy scoffed, he came strutting past James knocking into his shoulder as he did

"Eaves dropping again Malfoy" James spat back "if you want I could give you lessons, really there no need to follow me around" he made a scene of wiping Malfoys's germs from the part of his shoulder they had come into contact

Lucius Malloy was a Slytherin, practically a death dearer already, one thing about Slytherins is that they hate Gryffindor's, to add to that they hate anyone who isn't pure blood and Lily was muggle born, which have them a reason to hate her even more. She hated to admit it but she was terrified of Slytherins, none of them cared about getting into trouble and although in the back of her mind she knew they would never dare she still had her hand ready to draw out her and in case any of them tried to curse her. They even had a special name for her-

"Mud blood? I thought you had better standards James?" Malfoy teased. Mud blood was a horrific name given to those of non-magical parents, at the remark James thrust Lily behind him and took out his wand .

"What did you say?" He repeated, his wand was lodged under Malloy's chin. Malfoy didn't answer, just continued to stare at James wand as the fear grew in his eyes.

"Now, now James. Keep that temper to yourself" Malfoy said reaching for his own wand

"You touch your wand and I curse you, I think you'd look good as a troll" James threatened coming within inches of Malfoy's face.

Lily stepped forward placing a gentle hand on James's arm but as soon as she did he flinched and pushed her away.

"James let's leave, he's not worth it" she said not daring to touch him again

"No!"

Lily's eyes darted around, if she thought there was a crowd watching them earlier, now there were many more. A mixture of all houses formed a half circle round them, all eyes on Lily, waiting for her to do something. Stop the fight? Pull out her wand and show Malfoy what she's made of?

"James I said let's leave-"

"And I said no"

"Why!" she said then immediately wished she hadn't as the next words out of his mouth were not something she wanted to hear

"No one calls you mud blood" he murmured and then released Malfoy from his grasp. As soon as James's back was turned a snort left Malfoy's mouth. "Stupefy!" James yelled pointing his wand in Malfoy's direction. Malfoy was sent flying back into the stone wall and then collapsed onto the floor. A few Slytherins rushed over to pick him up wands now all pointed at James.

"No, it's okay" Malfoy said brushing the dust from his school robes, he picked his wand up from where it was lying not breaking the staring contest between him and James.

Lily was suddenly very frightened, not just of Malfoy, but of James to. She'd seen him angry, plenty of times, but never like this. She'd seen him angry over things like Gryffindor losing against Hufflepuff when Gryffindor clearly deserved to win and the reff was being biased. He was angry then, but not like this, James looked ready to kill and if Mcgonagall hadn't chosen that exact moment to turn down the corridor Lily was pretty sure Malloy's body would have been lying lifeless on the floor within minutes.

"Potter, my office now" Malfoy grinned an evil grin showing a gold tooth he got last year, he was very proud and flashed it any chance he got. One thing most Slytherins prided themselves on was being very rich. Oh and boy were the Malloy's rich, it wasn't even like they earned the money; or rather they did, just not in an honest way. I don't mean stealing either. I mean they got their money by suing people, kind of cliché but that's exactly what they did. Last year they even tried to sue the school after Malfoy was in a quiditch accident, of course it never pulled through. "You to Malfoy" Malfoy's grin disappeared and was replaced by what appeared to be resentment, it didn't even seem to be directed at anyone, he just seemed angry at life? Himself? James? Lily? Maybe it was all of them put together "Evans I want to see you in there to"

James hesitantly placed his wand in his pocket and stormed after Malfoy without the slightest glance back at Lily, once her feet decided they were going to work again she tiptoed after Malfoy leaving a whole load of students confused and bewildered staring after her.


End file.
